A New Charge is Coming to Your Electric Bill. Will it Make California Rates More Affordable? – April 2023

Los Angeles Times and Market Place

With the recent electricity bill mandate on residential ratepayers, the Los Angeles Times quotes Jim Sallee, Energy Institute Faculty Affiliate, on joint project with Next 10 focusing on residential rate redesign. The report includes adopting a fixed monthly charge based on household income.

“UC Berkeley associate professor James Sallee, one of the paper’s authors, said that because the fixed charge is designed for customers to save more money as they increase electricity consumption, it will encourage ratepayers to adopt cleaner technologies that align with the state’s clean energy mandates. ‘Suppose you want to hook up your electric car and you want to electrify your home heating or your water heater,’ Sallee said. ‘You’re going to be rewarded under this rate structure because you’re going to be consuming, on net, more electricity from the grid.’”

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